Brief Summary

Introduction

A neotropical genus of 26(,/-) large and often showy species ranging from Mexico to northern Argentina. Austin and Mielke (2008) ascribe their scarcity in collections to crepuscular habits, and the tendency to be encountered only in association with swarming army ants. Some Porphyrogenes species are so sexually-dimorphic that males and females remain unassociated, and the females have been described as separate taxa. The list above contains names of several taxa based on female holotypes (P. passalus, P. virgatus, P. eudemus) that may eventually prove to be synonymous with names based on types of the opposite sex.